The 3rd Annual USNJAC Tourney begins on Friday with the Masters Division on Day 1 (10-am EST start) with finals on Sunday. The Pro Division won’t start until Saturday (11-am EST start) and concludes on Sunday (noon start on Sunday).
Magic City’s brother team of Douglas-Benny will be defending their 2021 Pro Doubles Championship title. Last year they conquered the favored Erik-Ladutxe team 9-7 in the finals, taking home 1st place prize money. This year should be even better with Ladutxe, known as Manu on the Magic City roster, having grown more accustomed to the Magic City short-court since joining the Magic City roster at the start of 2022 and the young Benny having gained more experience.
The “amazing scoop champ” Douglas will be defending his 2021 Pro Singles Championship title. Last year Douglas defeated Goitia by a score of 9-4 in the Pro Singles finale. Goitia, now playing on the Magic City roster as Inaki, was injured in last year’s finale against Douglas. Inaki has been playing some of his best Jai-Alai at Magic City in recent weeks and Douglas won both late singles games in Pelota action on Sunday, August 14th, so both appear to be in top form for this weekend’s matches. Goitia (Inaki) defeated Dania’s Erik last year in the semi-finals by a score of 7-4. The competition should be even tougher for Erik this year should he accept the challenge.
A new serious contender for the USNJAC Pro Singles Championship title is Goixerri who joined the Magic City roster in early 2022. Goixerri currently leads the Magic City 2022 Singles Championship with 35-singles wins, an impressive 23.8% wins overall, and has been a super-star in late singles games, however, in the last month he’s been in a slump, winning only two of 26-singles games. Goixerri could easily be a huge threat in this tournament with some decent prize money at stake! Currently, Carballo is 2nd in the Magic City Pelota Singles Championship with 34-wins and Douglas is 3rd with 29-wins.
SayHiLi will be covering and reporting on the Pro Division results this year, however, will not be covering the Masters Division (amateur). We expect Jeff “Laca” Conway will be covering that angle with his site, PelotaPress.com, which is the leading site with info and support of US amateur Jai-Alai. SayHiLi will have staff on-site at Magic City Fronton Saturday and Sunday covering the Pro Singles and Doubles matches.
Contestants and match-ups for the 3rd Annual USNJAC could be released by as soon as Wednesday evening, based on last year, and will be posted on SayHiLi ASAP. This will be the first year where live attendance is allowed. Doors open for fans a half-hour before the start time.
Watch the event on watchjaialai.com this year if you cannot attend (not on YouTube JAC like last two years).